Melting Worlds is an ongoing series exploring the instability of form. Between body, landscape and geological matter, the works emerge through processes of accumulation, tension and transformation. Layers of clay are built, altered and brought into conflict, allowing the material to develop its own fractures, textures and ruptures.
The sculptures inhabit a state in which solid structures appear to soften, break apart and become something else. Their forms suggest worlds in transformation: landscapes, bodies and architectures caught between construction and collapse.
The series is part of an ongoing investigation into the relationship between control and unpredictability in ceramic practice. While the initial structure of each work is deliberately constructed, the behaviour of clay, glaze and firing introduces forces that remain partially beyond my control.
Material process
The forms in Melting Worlds develop through a process of accumulation, tension and deformation. I begin with conventional ceramic processes, often working on the wheel, and progressively alter the form through pressure, distortion and the addition of material.
The resulting structures are built through a dialogue between control and resistance. Clay is stretched, compressed and forced into new relationships, while fire is sometimes used directly to alter and develop textures on the surface. As the forms grow and become increasingly unstable, the process constantly approaches the possibility of collapse.
Rather than reproducing a predetermined shape, I work through a continuous process of adjustment in which the material becomes an active participant. The final form emerges from the interaction between intention, physical forces and the limits of the clay.
Glaze and colour
The surface of Melting Worlds is developed through an ongoing investigation into special-effect glazes and colour. I am interested in the way glaze can extend the transformation of the clay, creating surfaces that appear to flow, accumulate, erode or parasitically grow over the underlying structure.
My glaze research is driven by experimentation with chemistry, firing conditions and the unpredictable behaviour of materials. I am particularly interested in how the physical position and orientation of a piece inside the kiln can affect the movement of the glaze and the final appearance of the work.
In this process, the kiln is not simply a technical container but an active force in the transformation of the work. Gravity, heat distribution, atmosphere and the relationship between the ceramic surface and its environment all contribute to the final result.
Through further studies of colour and special-effect glazes, I want to investigate how these forces can be deliberately explored while preserving an element of unpredictability.
From object to environment
The next stage of Melting Worlds is an investigation into scale. I am interested in expanding the series from individual sculptural objects towards larger structures and spatial installations.
At a larger scale, the physical instability of the forms becomes a structural and spatial question. How can a ceramic structure remain stable while appearing to soften, collapse or transform? How does the perception of a form change when it begins to occupy the space of the viewer?
I envision developing modular or assembled ceramic structures that can be progressively altered during the process. Their scale would allow the viewer to move around them and experience the work not only as an image, but as a physical presence within space.
The aim is not to reproduce existing works at a larger scale, but to investigate how changes in scale, construction, surface and colour can transform the language of the series itself.
Research
The aim is not to fully control these processes, but to create the conditions in which material transformation can occur. Through the residency, I would investigate how clay, glaze, fire and scale can work together to produce forms that exist between stability and collapse.
